Kidnapping Leads To Drug Discovery

October 8, 1999|BY HENRY PIERSON CURTIS OF THE SENTINEL STAFF

Getting kidnapped cost an unemployed man more than $50,000, a kilogram of cocaine and enough marijuana to host a weeklong party.

Carl Richardson, 27, who turned himself in Thursday, returned home earlier this week to find deputy sheriffs investigating his kidnapping from Ivywood Lane in north Orange County, according to sheriff's records.

One of Richardson's relatives had called 911 late Sunday and deputies were in the process of searching the house for victims.

``Everything looked normal until you got into his bedroom and took a peek under his bed,'' county drug Agent Tim Warren said.

Under the queen-size bed, deputies found a 2.3-pound block of cocaine, 10 ounces of marijuana and a 15-shot pistol. Richardson, a convicted marijuana dealer, admitted he owned the drugs and gun, Warren said.

A safe in the house contained $53,800 in cash. Richardson, who is studying to be a truck driver, told deputies the money was his life savings from cleaning cars at a shop on Lee Road.

The Sheriff's Office seized the money as possible drug profits.

Besides Richardson, his 29-year-old girlfriend was abducted in the home invasion late Sunday. The couple were not able to describe the kidnapper, who forced them to drive him to L.B. McLeod Road, deputies said.

Richardson was charged with trafficking in cocaine and marijuana and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and was booked at the Orange County Jail. He was released on $25,000 bail.